Published in the February 3, 2016 edition

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — Superintendent of Schools Jane Tremblay proposed launching a tuition free full-day kindergarten program as part of the school department’s $22,865,421 fiscal year 2017 budget Jan. 26.

Tremblay said she incorporated the tuition-free full-day K proposal into the proposed school budget as part of an effort to develop programming for kindergartners, address students’ social-emotional needs and comply with a growing number of kindergarten standards established by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

According to Tremblay, the school system’s tuition-based full-day kindergarten program was implemented during the 2004-2005 school year. Families who choose to participate in the full-day K program pay a tuition rate of $2,600. Finance Director Tom Geary noted school officials are anticipating collecting between $225,000 and $250,000 in full-day kindergarten revenue for FY’16.

Tremblay acknowledged the current tuition-based full-day K program “brings in revenue each year and that revenue is needed.” However, she said if the tuition-free full-day K program is implemented next year, Tremblay said the financial impact would be absorbed by recent retirements.

“This is a very unique year for us in terms of hiring,” said Tremblay. “We had an unprecedented number of very veteran staff leave over the summer months after the (FY’16) budget was finalized by Town Meeting. One of the things we are working on in our hiring practices is our attention to detail when it comes to hiring. We are intentional, thoughtful and we were very calculating when we filled those positions in the summer. We were able to hire personnel at a much lower rate and we were able to do this without compromising any part of our programming or any of our classrooms. To some degree, we experience this every year but we never experienced the volume we experienced this year. This is the year we can capitalize on this.”

According to Tremblay, the school department will “use $160,000 of what is left in our kindergarten account to help offset the overall budget increase due to this proposal.” In FY’18, Tremblay said the school system will absorb around $100,000 to offset that increase and in FY’19, the district will absorb around $45,000. Tremblay said the entire cost of the full-day K program will be fully absorbed by FY’20.

“As we move forward, the incremental cost of what has to be absorbed becomes more manageable with ultimately absorbing the entire tuition in our budget,” said Tremblay.

While Tremblay said the school system is “not in the business of giving up revenue,” she said implementing a tuition-free full-day K program is in the best interest of Lynnfield students and the school system as a whole.

“After many long hours of conversations and working with Finance Director Tom Geary, we have found a way to strengthen our program for all students,” said Tremblay. “Making full-day K compulsory for all of our students is without a question or a doubt, a long term investment for not only our students, but for our entire school district.”

Making the case

Tremblay, Elementary English Language Arts and Social Studies Director Maureen Fennessy and Elementary Math and Science Director Christina Noce made the case the school system needs to implement the tuition-free full-day K program to the School Committee. Summer Street School Principal Jen DiBiase, Huckleberry Hill School Principal Brian Bemiss and a group of kindergarten teachers also attended the meeting to show their support.

According to Tremblay, 264 out of 351 communities in the state offer tuition free full-day K programs, including the recent additions of Wakefield and Sudbury. She said the North Shore communities that have recently implemented full-day K programs include Hamilton-Wenham, Essex, Ipswich, Manchester, Marblehead, North Andover, Rockport and Swampscott.

Noce said there are 22 students enrolled in the school system’s 0.7 kindergarten program, which includes 15 kindergartners enrolled at Huckleberry Hill School and seven kindergarteners at Summer Street School. In comparison, there are 172 students enrolled in the full-day K program, which includes 86 kindergarteners at Huckleberry Hill and 86 at Summer Street.

“All of our classes are a hybrid model of the 0.7 and full-day program,” said Noce.

When the tuition-based full-day K program was implemented 12 years ago, Noce said there were two full-day kindergarten classes offered at Summer Street School out of four kindergarten classes. She said there was one full-day kindergarten class at Huckleberry Hill School out of three classes.

Tremblay said the tuition-free full-day K program will enable the school system to expand kindergarten programming. She also said full-day K will increase opportunities for student play, exploration and social-emotional development.

Fennessy said implementing a tuition-free full-day kindergarten program would benefit students academically. She said a full-day K program will increase instructional time for students because it will expose more kindergartners to programs such as art and music, which 0.7 kindergarteners don’t participate in. She said implementing a full-day K program will increase independent learning for students and will increase classroom involvement. She also said 0.7 kindergarteners will be able to work with their full-day peers more frequently.

Noce said implementing a full-day K program will help the school system address students’ social-emotional issues.

“The social-emotional concerns are not only a Lynnfield concern, they are also a global concern now because we are seeing an increase in young kids coming to us with increased levels of anxiety and outside stressors,” said Noce.

Tremblay agreed.

“We have data that suggests that the students sitting in front of us today, from kindergarten to grade 12, are dealing with social-emotional issues that we have not seen in the past,” said Tremblay. “It’s a reality that our teachers are facing every day in the classroom.”

Noce said a tuition-free full-day K program will help students develop social-emotionally because of the benefits associated with increased play for children, which she said will improve students’ social skills. She also said full-day K will reduce students’ stress levels.

“Studies have found that spreading out instruction over the course of a full day can lower the level of student frustration and stress,” said Noce.

Since the school system launched the tuition-based full-day K program 12 years ago, Noce said the kindergarten curriculum has changed because of the Common Core State Standards and Massachusetts Frameworks.

Fennessy said the 43 kindergarten English language arts standards included in the 2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks is a significant jump from the 15 ELA standards included in the 2001 Massachusetts Frameworks.

“The demands for our kindergarten program have changed in the past 10 years,” said Fennessy. “We are not looking to increase the rigor of the kindergarten program. The state has done that for us. We are talking about having increased opportunities that will benefit students by having a longer day.”

While Noce said the state’s math standards have not increased as much as the ELA standards, she said the rigor has increased. She noted kindergartners are now expected to count up to 100, where as in 2001 kindergarteners were required to count up to 20.

While Tremblay stressed kindergarteners enrolled in the 0.7 program are receiving the same education as their full-day peers, she said it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to accomplish that task because of the 2011 Massachusetts’ Frameworks’ kindergarten standards.

“If you choose to send your child to a 0.7 kindergarten program in Lynnfield, we are promising you that they will have the same academic readiness as their full-day counterparts,” said Tremblay. “We stand by that but it’s becoming more and more difficult to stand by that because we are taking all of these Frameworks and putting all of them into three-and-a-half hours.”

Tremblay said the increased demands of students’ social-emotional issues, coupled with increased standards from the state, are causing the school system’s kindergarten program to become “unbalanced.”

“It wasn’t always that way,” Tremblay added. “We were able to maintain a balance between the academics and social-emotional development before the changes were put upon us by the state. This proposal is not a want. As the demands increase not only academically from the outside, our social-emotional demands are increasing from the inside.”

Tremblay added: “We pride ourselves in this community for providing a very rich educational experience for our students. We also pride ourselves on putting our students first.”

SC reaction

School Committee Vice Chairman Tim Doyle inquired if the state has also implemented curriculum changes for preschool students.

Fennessy said the 2001 Frameworks included “suggestions” for preschools but she said the 2011 Frameworks expects preschoolers to master specific areas before moving on to kindergarten.